Visits and Investigation

Jessie Chuck.

She was the woman who had discovered the victim's body the previous night. According to her statement in the case file, she and the victim worked in the same trade. They had agreed to look for customers nearby, then head back together. At the appointed time, Jessie, who had failed to find a customer, went to their meeting place. The victim wasn't there, so she searched the area and found her body in an alley.

There was nothing wrong with that. It matched what Li Wei and the others had seen at the time. But there was one question.

Why... hadn't she been killed?

If the killer had already left the scene, there would have been no issue. But at the time, the killer had still been lurking nearby. It might even have just taken the victim's internal organs. Since Miss Jessie had come along, the killer could easily have killed her without anyone noticing, before she discovered the body.

Yet it hadn't.

That was strange.

Her statement in the police case file didn't reveal much, but... Li Wei intended to follow this lead for now. Fortunately, her address was listed.

A392 White Birch Street, Pink Lady Bar.

Like most bars, it wasn't open during the day, so when Li Wei arrived, the doorman stopped him, just as he had expected.

"All right, kid. We're not open yet."

The burly man standing outside the bar was all muscle and looked like an orc. He flexed his forty-centimeter arms, making the tattoos on them stand out.

"If you're looking for a woman, come back after six. I've made myself clear."

"Hello."

Li Wei raised a hand to hold his hat in place and bowed to the burly man-another courtesy from the memories he had "acquired."

"I am here to see a lady, but not to discuss business."

As he spoke, Li Wei added,

"I simply have a few questions I'd like to ask her."

"Questions?"

The burly man frowned and stared at Li Wei.

"Yes. Miss Jessie Chuck. I've come to ask her about last night's murder..."

"Are you a cop?"

The burly man widened his eyes again, looking like a German shepherd guarding a door, baring its teeth and ready to pounce.

"No, I'm a detective."

Li Wei shook his head and studied the burly man. Suddenly, he sensed that the man wasn't nearly as fierce as he appeared. On the contrary, he was a little nervous and uneasy. He was hesitating. As for why...

"I imagine things haven't been easy for you lately."

Li Wei looked the burly man over as he spoke, then took out a coin and placed it in his hand. The man accepted it, his earlier bluster vanishing as he nodded.

"That's right, detective. You can see for yourself. Hardly any customers come here now... All right, I'll let her know."

With that, the burly man turned and went into the bar. A little while later, he came back out.

"Lady Claytie has agreed to let you see her."

"Thank you."

Li Wei handed him another coin, nodded once more, and entered the bar.

The Pink Lady Bar had an outer and an inner section. The outer section was an ordinary bar and performance venue, currently closed and almost deserted. The stairs to the second floor, hidden behind a curtain, were the passage to heaven on earth.

"Poor little Jessie was frightened out of her wits."

Unlike the image Li Wei had in mind, Lady Claytie wasn't the sort of madam who stood in the doorway waving a handkerchief and shouting, "Come in and have some fun, gentlemen!" She struck him more as a dignified elderly lady. Her clothes were plain and sober. In his opinion, she looked better suited to drinking tea at home than running this sort of business.

"I can't really blame them. Business has suffered terribly since the Courtesan Killer appeared. Everyone thinks some monster is prowling around here at night... Four girls have died, one after another. They were all good girls, Mr. Li Wei. You might think I'm covering for them, but I mean that sincerely."

Lady Claytie sighed.

"Times are hard for everyone now. You know how those steam engines are... They've taken away so many jobs, jobs that used to belong to those girls..."

"I understand."

Li Wei nodded. In that respect, this world was no different from his own. The widespread adoption of steam engines had put artisans out of work, and female textile workers had naturally been among the first to suffer. Their social standing was low to begin with, and they could only support themselves on the meager wages they earned through repetitive labor.

But with the arrival of steam engines, these textile workers had lost their jobs. They had to find other ways to feed themselves and their families, and becoming a courtesan was almost the easiest profession to enter.

"If they could, they'd want respectable work too. But they can't find any. Even we older people can't make sense of these machines now."

As she spoke, Lady Claytie shook her head wearily.

"Do you know, Mr. Li Wei? Why can those metal gears print out so much information simply by clicking round and round? There are only numbers on them. I can't understand how they work. It's like some kind of witchcraft, some kind of magic..."

Li Wei felt he could understand her. He couldn't figure out how it worked either. To be honest, he found the thing just as astonishing. Lady Claytie reminded him of elderly women who had spent their lives in the countryside, unable to adapt to or understand modern technology. Those women were the same. With little education, they simply couldn't keep up with this rapidly developing age.

Lady Claytie stopped outside a door and turned to look at Li Wei.

"I know you're a decent gentleman. Please don't hurt that girl. She can't bear another blow."

"I'll do my best, Lady Claytie."

Li Wei took off his hat and answered softly.

Miss Jessie was an ordinary-looking woman. Perhaps because of the severe shock she had suffered, her cheeks were hollow, and dark circles under her eyes suggested she hadn't slept well.

"I've already told the police everything I have to say."

Wrapped in a worn shawl, she sat at the head of the bed, her slight frame trembling. Miss Jessie kept her head lowered and stared at the floor beneath her feet, as though flowers had bloomed on the rough wooden boards.

"I understand, Miss Jessie."

Li Wei raised a hand in a reassuring gesture.

"Actually, I didn't come to ask about what happened last night. I just wanted to learn a little... well, about your profession."

"My profession?"

The unexpected question made Miss Jessie raise her head hesitantly, a trace of confusion in her brown eyes.

"You can think of me as a reporter investigating the current state of your... line of work."

"Oh, I've seen that kind of interview before."

Jessie gave a soft sigh.

"I still remember when the boss said he didn't need us anymore and threw us out. We were lost, and we were furious. We'd done so much work, so much... More than twelve hours a day, with no insurance, living in rooms only a few square meters across. Our hands were swollen from soaking in water, and our nails were cracked, but we put up with it. We needed our wages to support ourselves. But-but those machines-!"

Jessie's voice rose sharply.

"Those damned steam engines! Cold lumps of steel! They took everything from us! We had nothing left! That's what happened..."

Li Wei said nothing. He had learned about the changes brought by the steam revolution in history books. Everyone had considered those sacrifices necessary-the development of human civilization inevitably weeded out whatever was backward or unable to adapt. It was regarded as perfectly natural and justified.

The same was true now. As this world's steam revolution advanced, it was inevitable that more advanced productive forces would replace the old.

But that didn't mean those being replaced would meekly accept the change. And naturally, those on the losing side suffered far more.

"Later, we joined a movement for a while... We wanted to smash those machines and take back our jobs..."

Luddism.

The word surfaced in Li Wei's mind as he listened. It came from a worker named Ludd, the first man to smash a steam-powered textile machine. Afterward, Luddism had flourished in the Empire for a time as an ideology opposing machinery, but it had eventually vanished under the Empire's harsh suppression.

Li Wei wasn't surprised. People like that had plenty of passion, but nothing more. He remembered something similar happening in his own world, not long after the college entrance examinations had been reinstated, when a single exam decided a person's future. One candidate had angrily handed in a blank paper to protest exam-oriented education. It had caused a huge public stir at the time, and the student had been hailed as the blank-paper hero who declared war on exam-oriented education...

And then?

There had been no "then." By now, most people probably didn't even remember that person had existed.

"Of course, the movement failed. We didn't get our jobs back, but we still had to live, so I started doing this."

Jessie gave a bitter smile and looked at Li Wei.

"What would a gentleman like you want to know?"

"A few small things... I imagine women in your profession make sure to avoid having children."

"Oh, of course."

On that subject, Jessie immediately became more talkative.

"I suppose you know we have all sorts of methods, things like sheep intestines... They can prevent those awkward situations, but most customers don't like them. They always want to be a little closer to us. Some sweet-talk girls who don't know much about the world yet. It happens all the time, so we're very careful, but it's no use..."

"No use?"

"A lot of girls are foolish."

Jessie sighed.

"You see, women who've been through what I have aren't uncommon here. I'm getting older, so I don't expect much anymore. But girls who've just entered the trade always dream that someone will take them away from here, dress them in white, and stand with them in a sacred church, making them happy princesses from a fairy tale. Girls like that are always easy to deceive. If a customer whispers sweet words in their ears and promises to make them happy, they might be persuaded and do something foolish."

"So they get deceived?"

"I've yet to meet one who didn't."

That really was tragic.

"I deeply sympathize with what they've been through..."

Li Wei chose his words carefully.

"But I imagine you must have ways of dealing with that problem?"

"I understand your concerns, Miss Jessie, but please believe me. I'm a detective, not a police officer."

Li Wei looked at Jessie and spoke slowly and clearly. He understood why she had fallen silent. In this world, in this era, it was a crime. Anyone discovered doing it would be arrested and sentenced.

"I'm only trying to find a few clues."

"I understand. I read the newspaper."

Jessie looked at Li Wei, biting her thin lips.

"All right, I admit we do find ways to deal with it. We go to a doctor, and he gives us some medicine. You understand. But I don't believe that man is the killer."

"Why?"

Seeing how confident Jessie was, Li Wei felt somewhat surprised.

"When something like that happens, we ask one of the other girls to bring the medicine back for us. So the doctor doesn't know who needs it. Besides..."

Jessie paused.

"Doctor Dolittle is a kind, upright man. He would never do anything so depraved and evil."

Li Wei had to admit that he really had no talent for detective work.

The deduction itself was simple. Since all the victims had shown signs of having miscarried before their deaths, and given their profession, someone must have known they would do that. If that was what the killer was targeting, it was easy to deduce that a suspect must have known what they all had in common...

But Miss Jessie's answer overturned Li Wei's theory outright. Indeed, having a child was a serious mistake for a courtesan. If those in charge found out, the women would be punished or even have their pay docked. So they would secretly ask close friends to collect the medicine on their behalf.

For example, the latest victim had been a good friend of Jessie's and had asked her to fetch the medicine. But Miss Jessie hadn't gone herself; she had asked another girl instead. In other words, even if that girl had let something slip, the doctor would only have found Jessie, rather than going straight to the victim.

Yet the one who had ultimately been targeted was the victim... That was puzzling.

Moreover, Miss Jessie had said this was standard practice among courtesans, meaning the others might have done the same.

But that was only a deduction, after all. Li Wei felt he still needed to investigate.

What if I guessed wrong?

The results, however, were completely different from what Li Wei had expected.

"Phew..."

By the time Li Wei returned to his home in the clock tower, he was utterly exhausted. It wasn't just from climbing more than ten flights of stairs because the lift was broken. He had also spent the entire day investigating the other victims' personal connections, and every answer had been much the same as Miss Jessie's.

For various reasons, the dead women had indeed made mistakes. They had known they had made mistakes, too, so they had asked other people to bring medicine back from Doctor Dolittle.

But all those people insisted that they had never told Doctor Dolittle who needed the medicine, and he had never asked. It was an excellent doctor-patient relationship.

And Li Wei couldn't see any sign that they were lying.

Whatever the case, the investigation had to continue. Although this doctor named Dolittle didn't seem suspicious at present, Li Wei could only keep pursuing that lead.

He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling and recalling what he had learned about Doctor Dolittle that day.

A good man, a doctor with a clinic in the Oak District who treated the poor, and a devout follower of the Holy Lord Church. He was friendly, exceptionally kind, and deeply religious. He often even treated people free of charge when they were too poor to afford medical fees. No matter how Li Wei looked at it, he seemed like a good person. He had also lived in the area for more than a decade and knew the locals well. He wasn't some newcomer from elsewhere.

Everyone spoke highly of him.

Of course, in a detective novel or television drama, the more innocent someone seemed, the more likely they were to be the killer. But that was artistic license. Whether reality worked that way was another matter.

Although Li Wei had once been interested in detective novels and had considered becoming a police officer, it had never been more than a passing thought. Apart from the novels and films he had seen and the games he had played, he knew very little about what detectives actually did. He didn't understand why he had drawn this particular profession, either.

"Sigh..."

Li Wei reached into his pocket, silently took out a cigarette, and put it between his lips. Then he struck a match and lit it. He hadn't smoked in a long time, not since falling ill and being hospitalized. His mind was a mess now. Perhaps a cigarette would help clear his head... Hm?

As Li Wei took his first drag, he saw the life timer among the figures at the edge of his vision, like a display in a first-person action game, suddenly begin dropping at an alarming rate. In the time it took him to exhale once, his remaining lifespan fell from nine days, three hours, and twenty minutes to nine days, one hour, and ten minutes.

Li Wei silently put out the cigarette, crushed it into a ball, and tossed it into the bin.

Smoking really was bad for his health.

Forget it. I'll get some sleep first and continue the investigation tomorrow.